Elevator controlling device



(No Model.)

B. GALE.

ELEVATOR CONTROLLING DEVICE.

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Patented Dec. 12, 1893,

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"NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE B. GALE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ELEVATOR CONTROLLING DEVICE;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 510,638, dated December 12, 1893. Application filed January 16, 1893. Serial No. 458,499. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE B. GALE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San'Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new 'and useful Improvements in ElevatorOontrollin g Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings ac companying and forming a part of the same.

My invention relates especially to that class of elevator machinery in which the car is moved, directly or through intervening dev1ces, by a piston or ram propelled by the combined pressure of a liquid, as water, and an elastic fluid, as steam; but it is also applicable to elevators operated entirely by hydraulic pressure. The movable body upon which the fluid pressure acts to raise or lower the car will be hereinafter referred to as a piston, it being understood'that the devices herein claimed are equally applicable in case the car is propelled by a plunger or ram.

In the class of elevators to which my improvements relate, the up and down movenents of the car are accompanied, respectively, by a flow of Water back and forth through a valve, or valves, by closing which the car is stopped and held in-any desired position. When the operating piston is propelled by the combined action of water and steam, the valves are preferably so designed that they canbe set'to permit the water to flow only in a determined direction, depend- 1ng upon which way it is desired tomove the car, thus preventing any momentary reverse movement at starting. My inventionis designed to embody this feature, and has for its further objects, to provide improved means for easily operating the water-valves; to pre vent vlolent shocks, such as may be produced by the too sudden closing of the water-valves heretofore used; and to provide improved means for automatically stopping the motionof. the car at the ends of its travel.

The devices constituting my inventionare represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a general view of the apparatus applied to a hydro-steam elevator, illustrating means by which the controlling valves may be operated from the elevator car, and Fig. 2 is a after explained.

transverse to the" axis of the water-passage,

showing the principles of construction of the valves. on the line .9 s of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 shows an alternative arrangement of valves which may be used. The drawings are diagrammatic in form, the small parts beingdisproportionately enlarged for the sake of clearness.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Referring to Fig. 1, A is the operating cylinder, B the piston rod, carrying at its outer end the sheaves 0, around which are passed the ropes D, by means of which the ear E is raised and lowered. F is the steam receiver, containing a certain-amount of water, and connected with one end of the operating cylinder A through the water passage G, of which the casing of the main water-valves H forms apart. Iindicates the steam supply pipe, J the main exhaust pipe, andK the easing of the main steam-valves, by which steam may be admitted to and exhausted from the upper end'of ,the receiver F.

The construction and arrangement of the water-valves and other controlling devices herein claimed are not alfected by the design of the steamvalves K, and the latter may be arranged to admit steam either to the receiver F, as shown, or'to the-farther end of the cylinder A, or to both receiver and cylinder, according to'any of the methodsused for operating elevators of this class.

L indicates an auxiliary-steam valve, by operating which tne movements of the main water-valves are controlled, as will be hereinoperated by the handleM in the elevator car through the ropes N, wheels 0 and P, the' rope or chain Q,and wheel R, the samemove ment of the handles serving to operate the steam valves K through the wheel S, chain "T, and wheel U. Any other of the known devices'for operating'the wheels R and U from the elevator car may be substituted for that here represented, and, if desired the axis of the auxiliary valve L may be made to coincide with that of the wheel U, and both sets of steam-valves may be operated by the single chain T. v

The design of the water-valves and the The auxiliary valve L is means for operating them are shown in detail 1n Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the devices shown in these figures constituting the elements of my invention which are claimed as new.

The water-valves which have been hcretofore employed in elevators of this class have been either positively-closing stop valves, or a combination of stop and check valves. The former if used alone are liable to the objection that when opened they permit a motion of the water in either direction, so that the car is subject sometimes to a momentary movement in the wrong direction at starting. The combination stop and check valves overcome this defect; but they, as well as the plain stop valves, are liable to the objection that sudden closing of the valve, when the elevator is moving rapidly, instantly and positively stops the motion. subject the'occupants of the car to an unpleasant shock, but the sudden checking of the momentum of the water and of the movmg car subjects the apparatus to a strain many times greater than it would otherwise have to withstand.

The device by which I have overcome both of the defects above cited consists essentially of a pair of puppet valves, or check-valves, placed side by side in the waterpassage, and opening opposite ways relatively to the direction of flow through' the passage, combined with means by which the external force holding either of these valves to its seat may be increased or diminished at will by the operator in the elevator car.

The check-valves may be pressed to their seats by the familiar device of weights or springs, and mechanical means employed for raising the weight, or releasing the'spring when it is desired to relieve the pressure on either valve in order to allow it to open. The means by which I prefer to control the pressure on the valves, however, is illustrated in Fig. 2, in which a and I) represent the main valves, resting upon the seats cand d.

Fig. 3 illustrates the arrangement of the valve-casing H, which is such that a pressure of the waterin the passage Gin the direction of the arrow tends to lift the valve a, while a pressure in the contrary direction would tend to lift the valve 1), the opening of either valve permitting the water to flow through the passage G.

To the outer ends of the valve stems are attached pistons e and f, working in cylinders 11 and j, which are connected through the pipes 10 and m with the casing of the auxiliary valve L. Thence the pipe n leads to the source of steam, or other fluid employed in working the elevator, and the pipe 0 to the atmosphere or to some receptacle for exhaust steam. The pipes 13 and q are intended to drain the water of condensation from the cylinders and steam passages, and may be connected to a steam trap, or other device for discharging the water.

This not only may It will be seen that when the valve L is in theposition shown in the drawings thesteam will pass from at through the valve L and pipes 76 and on into both the cylinderspj and j, and will press upon the pistons e and f, holding the valves a and b to their seats with a force dependent upon the steam pressure and the area of the pistons e and f. By properly proportioning this area in relation to the pressure, the valves may be held closed against any force ordinarily applied to operate the elevator. They are never closed absolutely, however, but only with a certain force, and will yield automatically to any momentary abnormal pressure in either direction such as may be occasioned by the suddenly checked momentum of moving masses, thus serving as safety valves to protect the water passages, cylinder, piston, and supporting ropes from undue strains. If now it is desired, for example, to lower the car, the handle M (Fig.1) is moved so as to rotate valve L in the direction of the arrow, bringing it to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. This puts the upper part of the cylindert' in connection with the exhaust passage 0,thus relieving pressure on the valve piston e, but leaving the cylinder j in connection with the steam. The same movement of the handle M sets the main steamvalves K (Fig. 1) so as to exhaust the steam from the receiver F. The pressure in the receiver being thus relieved, the weight of the car, acting through the ropes D and pistonrod B,tends to force the waterfrom themain cylinder A into the receiver F,traversing.tl1e passage G in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3. The valve a, being no longerheld to its seat by the pressure of steam on the piston e, is lifted by the water, thus opening the passage G and permittingthe car todescend. For an instant after operating the steam valves K as described, before the steam has had time to escape from the receiver F, there may be a tendency of the water to flow from the receiver to the cylinder A, in the direction which would raise the car.- But this mo- IIO mental-y tendency to move in the wrong. di-

rection cannot take effect, as the valve a can be lifted only bya flow in the direction of the arrow, while the valve 1) is held closed by the steam pressure on the piston f.

To stop the car, after it is in motion,the lever M is brought back to the middle of its stroke, returning the auxiliary valve L to its original position, when steamagain enters the cylinder '5, and forces the valve 01. to its seat. It is impossible, however, to close the valve in this way with sufficient suddenness to produce a shock, as the pressure of the water under the closing valve 61. can never rise above a definiteamount, namely,that required to balance the steam pressure on the area of the piston e. The force applied to stop the elevator therefore cannot exceed a determined limit, no matter how quickly the valves K and L are shifted, and acts simisprings.

larly to a brake, always bringing the elevator to rest easily, without shock or excessive strain upon the mechanism.

It is evident that to set the water-valves so as to permit the raising of the car, it is only necessary to rotate the auxiliary valve L in the direction opposed to the arrow in Fig. 2, thus relieving the pressure outhe check-valve b, and enabling the water to raise it and flow through the passage G in the contrary direc- 1310B to the arrow of Fig. 3.

The auxiliary steam-valve L has the ad vantage of being very small and easily operated valves which are operated by the lug X con nected to the main piston-rod B (Fig. 1'). The lug X strikes the tappet, Y or Z, when the car'has reached the top or bottom of its travel,

which sets the corresponding supplementalvalve' W or Vso as to admit steam to the Valve-cylinderj or iand close the main water-valve, thus stopping the car. For example, supposethe auxiliary valve L to be set according to the dotted lines in Fig. 2, so as to connect the cylinder 2' with theexhaust passage 0, the valve piston e and valve a being raised, and the car moving downward. Just before the car reaches the end of its travel, the lug X strikes the ta ppet Z, attached to the rod r, and turns the supplemental valve V in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, into the position shown by dotted lines in that figure;

This closes the passage between the cylinder '1, and the auxiliary valve L, and admits steam to the cylinder 11 through the by-pass pipe 25, thus closing the valve a and'bringing the car to rest. The valve piston f and valve 1) are howeverstill under the control of the valve L, so that the car can be started upward at pleasure. Whenever this is done, the lug X releases the tappet Z, and the valve V is returned to its normal position as shown by the weight a, a spring, or equivalent means.

It will be evident that instead of placing the two oppositely opening check-valves a and 1), side by side in the passage G, they may be placed in series, as shown in Fig. 4, and held to their seats only .by gravity, or by light In this case, to allow the car to move, it is necessary to raise one of thecheck-valves, (either by anauxiliary steam-valve L admitting steam to a piston connected to the said check-valve, as shown, or by equivalent means controlled from the elevator car) leaving the Air, water,'or any other convenient working fluid may. of course be substituted for steam in working the valve pistonse andf, if preferred. I r

Having now shown that the details of construction and arrangement of parts in the apparatus which has been described are capable of considerable variations, I do not confine my claims to the specific formsshown and described; but 7 What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an elevator controlling-mechanism, the combination of the operating cylinder, a passage or conduit through which water or other liquid is admitted thereto and discharged therefrom; the oppositely acting check-valves arranged in said passage, each of which is opened by a flow in one direction only, being automatically closed against a contrary flow by the pressure of the liquid upon its back,

independently of the controlling mechanism;

and mechanism operated by ropes, pulleys, or other connections from the elevator car, by means of which the external closing force applied to each check-valve is varied independently by an operator in the car, substantially as described. r I

2. In an elevator controllingmechanism,the

combinatiouof the operating cylinder, a pas-v sage or conduit through which water or other liquid is admitted thereto and discharged therefrom, two oppositely-acting check valves placed in said passage, one of which may be' whereby the former may be varied by an operator on the car and supplementalvalves for governing the admission of steam orother fluid to the check valves independently,-substantially as described.

3. The combination, in an elevator controlling mechanism, of two oppositelyacting check-valves inthe passage through which water is admitted to and discharged from the operating cylinder, each valve being capable of being opened by a flow in one direction only; pistons connected to the valve-stems working in suitable cylinders, an auxiliary valve, or valves, and passages by which steam or other working fluid may be admitted to and discharged from these cylinders, means for operating the said auxiliary valve or valves from the elevator ear, and a steam receiver and its valve, substantially as set forth and forthe purpose described.

4. The combination in an elevator controlling mechanism of two oppositely acting check-valves with connected pistons and cylinders, as described, supplemental valves governing the admission of steam or other fluid to each of said cylinders independently, and rods and tappets, or equivalent means,- by whiclrsaidsupplementat valves may be operatedautomatically by the mechanism,so as to stop the car at determined points of its movement, substantially as set forth.

5. In an elevator controlling mechanism, the combinationof an operating cylinder, a passage through which water or other liquid is admitted to and dischargedtherefrom, two oppositely acting check valves in said passage,each valve beingcapable of being opened by a flow in onedirection only, pistons connected to the valve stems working in suitable cylinders, an auxiliary valve or valves and passages by which steam or other working fluidmay be admitted to and discharged from these cylinders, means for operating the said auxiliary valve or valves from the elevator car, and supplemental valves governing the admission 'of steam or other fluid to each of said cylinders independently, together with automatically-operating mechanismconnected with the operating cylinder whereby these supplemental valvesare automatically operated soas to stop the carat determined points of its movement, substantially as described.

6. In an elevator controlling mechanism, the combination of two oppositely acting check valves with connected pistons and cylinders as described',supplemental valves governing the admission of steam or other fluid to each of said cylinders independently, antomatically operated mechanism connected with the operating cylinder by which said supplemental valves are automatically operated,an auxiliary valve operated 'througllconnectionswith theelevator car and a receiver for steam or other-fluid, together witha steam valve, which valve is operated jointly with the auxiliary valve bymeans of the. same mechanism, substantially as described.

7."In an elevator controlling mechanism, the combination of two oppositely-acting check valvesin the passage through which water is admitted to and discharged from the operating cylinder, each valve capable of being opened by the flow in one direction only, pistons connected to said valve-stems, suitablecylindersin which said pistons are located and within which they work, steam passages connecting witheach of said cylinders, a valve in said passage-which is operated from the elevator car by suitable mechanism arranged for the purpose, supplemental valves located in the samepassage withfthe auxiliary valves on opposite sides thereof, and mechanism consisting of rods and tappets, arranged to be operated by the mechanism of the operating cylinder so that the supplemental valves may be automatically actuated, substantially as described. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HORACE B. GALE. Witnesses:

ALFRED A. ENQUIST, WILSON D. BENT, Jr. 

